A View of the Fort, on the River Jumna

1 August, 1786

Later hand-coloured aquatint on paper

14 x 19.5 in   |  35.6 x 49.5 cm

"This is plate 15 from William Hodges' book 'Select Views in India'. Agra was one of the principal cities of the Mughal Empire. The Emperor Akbar resided here at the beginning of his reign and completed this fort in 1573. It dominates the centre of the city and lies on the right bank of the river Jumna. As Hodges noted, "The tomb of the Tajmahal, a building in the distance of this view, is the most perfect remains of eastern taste in architecture. It was raised by the emperor Shah Jehan for his wife." (Source: British Library Board)

This print was part of William Hodges' pioneering work "Select Views in India, Drawn on the Spot, in the Years 1780, 1781, 1782, and 1783, and Executed in Aquatinta, by William Hodges" on the architectural and picturesque wonders of India. He was the first professional landscape artist to visit India to meet the new demand for paintings of Indian scenery. His architectural subjects depicted many little-known Muslim tombs and mosques, temples, forts and palaces in northern India. Hodges' writing and illustrations are considered to be of seminal importance by both Indian and Western historians.

Hodges was born in London to a blacksmith. Hewas employed as an errand-boy in Shipley's drawing school, where he learnt how to draw in his spare time. He was noticed by Richard Wilson, a landscape painter, and was taken as the latter's assistant and pupil. By 1766, Hodges was holding exhibitions of his work. In 1772, he was appointed as draughtsman to Captain James Cook's second expedition to the South Seas. Inspired by the voyage, he made and exhibited several pictures at the Royal Academy in London in 1776 and 1777.

In 1778, following the death of his wife, Hodges left for India. He arrived there via Madras, then travelled up the Coromandel coast to visit Calcutta, Bengal, Patna, Benares and Bidjegur before returning to Calcutta due to illness. After recovery he visited Allahabad, Cawnpoor, Lucknow, Agra and Fyzabad. Travelling through the country allowed him to observe its architecture, inhabitants, customs and scenery up close. He left India in 1783 and on his return to London, exhibited 25 oil paintings and a selection of aquatints at the Royal Academy between 1785 and 1794. These works "gave a completely new and direct vision of India translated into an eighteenth-century painter's composition. His views of the countryside with its great rivers and forests had little in common with the popular picture of India gained from old engravings in the travelers' accounts. His architectural subjects depicted many little-known Muslim tombs and mosques, Hindu temples, forts and palaces in Upper India....."(India Observed).

The famed British aquatint master, Thomas Daniell, mastered the art of aquatint hoping to emulate Hodge's commercial success.

This work will be shipped unframed

NON-EXPORTABLE